[Foundation-l] Steward elections

[Robert Rohde]

On Nov 13, 2007 3:29 AM, Waerth <waerth at asianet.co.th> wrote:

> How about adding Anthere and Angela to the stewards for life group? They
> were the first ones so started it off more or less. And they do know how
> to use the steward buttons. I certainly feel that they deserve that.
>
As a matter of principle, I am opposed to processes that grants a permanent
set of powers.  The future is too uncertain for that.

I don't mind granting powers in a way that is indefinite in duration (rather
than annually confirmed) provided there is a community mechanism for
removing those powers, and/or clear preconditions on their existence.  In
other words, I don't have a problem with developers having steward access
for as long as they are developers.  Nor would I be bothered if the active
WMF board were automatically granted steward rights during their term, etc.


However, I don't believe such rights should be continued ad infinitum
even beyond the end of a person's involvement with the Wikimedia
projects.  I believe that rights granted by the community should be
contingent on the continued support of the community and ongoing involvement
in that community.  This is doubly true since some such respected elders
might pull a Larry Sanger and decide to compete with us some day.

-Robert A. Rohde

P.S. I feel the same way about Adminship, Bureaucratship and Jimbo-ship,
etc.  I would prefer that none of these power grants be seen as so infinite
that they continue regardless of a person's level of involvement with the
community or independent of the community's continued support.